In pictures: Optus takes LTE plunge

A look at Optus' first 4G towers.

Optus is the second major Australian telco to take the plunge into an LTE upgrade of its network, beginning with a roll-out to Newcastle before plans to roll out to Sydney, Melbourne and Perth later this year. We take a look at the telco's first towers on the central coast. (Credit: Oz Synergy Solutions)

Optus went live with its Newcastle network in April but the service remains in closed trials with a limited set of users. It has not announced when the network will be publicly available. (Credit: Oz Synergy Solutions)

Some have estimated Optus has built out around 400 sites to date with LTE using Huawei gear. The remainder of the network contract is still being hotly contested but trials of Nokia Siemens Networks are believed to be in tow for later this year. (Credit: Oz Synergy Solutions)

Optus's LTE network will ultimately combine with assets received from its acquisition of vividwireless earlier this year for $230 million. (Credit: Oz Synergy Solutions)

The vividwireless plans include a hybrid LTE network using the original 1800 MHz spectrum, and 2.3 GHz spectrum compatible with a variant of LTE technology dubbed TD-LTE. (Credit: Oz Synergy Solutions)

Optus has also extended its mobile site sharing agreement with Vodafone, which will see the telcos share the cost of building 500 new sites. The telco contends the agreement will speed up deployment of the network. (Credit: Oz Synergy Solutions)

(Credit: Oz Synergy Solutions)

(Credit: Oz Synergy Solutions)

(Credit: Oz Synergy Solutions)

(Credit: Oz Synergy Solutions)

(Credit: Oz Synergy Solutions)

(Credit: Oz Synergy Solutions)

(Credit: Oz Synergy Solutions)

(Credit: Oz Synergy Solutions)

(Credit: Oz Synergy Solutions)

(Credit: Oz Synergy Solutions)

(Credit: Oz Synergy Solutions)

(Credit: Oz Synergy Solutions)

(Credit: Oz Synergy Solutions)

(Credit: Oz Synergy Solutions)

(Credit: Oz Synergy Solutions)

Optus is the second major Australian telco to take the plunge into an LTE upgrade of its network, beginning with a roll-out to Newcastle before plans to roll out to Sydney, Melbourne and Perth later this year. We take a look at the telco's first towers on the central coast. (Credit: Oz Synergy Solutions)

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